Yates’ players refuse to be distracted from their mission

They didn’t think they played very good basketball, Yates basketball, in their 106-76 win over The Colony in the Class 4A state semifinal.

A game in which they forced 34 turnovers. The Colony shot 47 percent from the floor in the first half and hit 56 percent of its shots in the second. Yates still outscored them by 15 points in each half.

And the Lions were disappointed in their play.

This is why I LOVE Darius “Pee Wee” Gardner.

Minutes after the win – Yates’ 57th straight and a victory that put it in the state championship game on Saturday – the Lions’ senior point guard said the first thing they would do Friday morning was have a meeting.

A players’ only meeting.

“No coaches, nobody, but the players,” Gardner said. “We just don’t play like that.”

This is a team that doesn’t accept mediocrity.

We can whine, moan and debate their philosophy, their coach’s level of sportsmanship and, of course, whether they are the best team in the country, but don’t forget the most important thing about the Lions: they take perfection seriously.

What did a 30-point win at the state tournament mean to them?

“We played one game. You have to win two to win it all,” Gardner said. “We haven’t finished our mission yet. Winning the state tournament is the mission. Winning one game, you haven’t accomplished anything.”

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I watched the near-fight between Lancaster and Yates before the Yates-The Colony game and it was all on Lancaster.

They waited for Yates to come out of the locker room. They wanted the confrontation.

Yates handled it as well as a group of teenagers pumped to play at the state tournament possibly could.

Even when their game was over, the Lions showed much class. Of course, they were not afraid to say what they were thinking.

After all, this is a confident, make that a very confident, team.

“They like to talk,” Yates head coach Greg Wise said. “That’s their thing. Maybe that’s why we started slow (against The Colony). They wanted to get our attention. Well, they got it.”

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If you’re wondering whether things will get chippy in Saturday’s championship game … well, yeah, they probably will.

Yates says it can deal with it and just play ball.

“We go at it everyday in practice,” said Brandon Peters, who led the Lions with 29 points. “There’s no fouls allowed in practices, so we’re used to it being hard. We go up and down, with people getting hit all in the face, so it really doesn’t matter what you say, we’ll deal with it and keep playing.”

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I had trouble determining the line of the night from Yates players in response to the Lancaster squad that was yapping and yapping talking about looking forward to Saturday night.